Miss Scarlett in the kitchen with...

...Recipes for Children

“Cooking with kids is not just about ingredients, recipes, and cooking. It’s about harnessing imagination, empowerment, and creativity.” – Guy Fieri

Get the children into the kitchen to cook this half term so you can put your feet up and enjoy the spoils of their labour. I have come up with a few recipes for children which might receive the boredom that can be February Half Term. Sound scary?
I heard an alarming story of a student this week cooking for the first time at university. He put a selection of vegetables into some boiling water and was heard to ask, “when do they turn into soup?” I heard of another student saying after chopping an onion into very small pieces, “how do I get the skin off?” And I know of one who lived on omelettes as that was all he had ever cooked at home! If you are an anxious, hand-wringing hoverer in the kitchen, take a deep breath and walk away! Go on walk away and leave them to it. Turn the oven on, light the gas, switch on the food mixer if you must but actually let them get on with it! You might be amazed at the results and hopefully they’ll know how to make soup before they are 25!
Here are a selection of my recipes that I hope the children have fun experimenting with. I have included a film of the Stir Fry Recipe. We are going to be posting a lot more films of our recipes soon so keep an eye out for them. Anyway, enjoy the rest of Half Term and let me know how the children get on – I’d love to hear!

Scarlett’s Ornamental Vegetable Stir Fry
Stir fry your vegetables – choose any you fancy such as mange tout, bean sprouts, courgettes, peppers, curly kale, leeks, onions, broccoli, carrot – for a few minutes on a high heat in some rapeseed oil until starting to brown but still crispy.
Add in some rice or egg noodles and a good slug of Ornamental, cook for a little longer, then transfer to warm bowls, stir in another good dollop of Ornamental Sauce and serve. ‪#‎YumYum‬!

Butternut Squash Soup
Soften an onion and some garlic in melted butter in a large pan. Whilst that’s cooking deseed and cube a butternut squash (you can leave the skin on if you want). Add the squash and some vegetable stock to the pan and simmer until the squash is soft. Blend the soup adding a couple of spoonfuls of Scarlett & Mustard Chilli Jam and a couple of creme fraiche. Serve with a good drizzle of Scarlett & Mustard’s Pumpkin Oil and sprinkle over some toasted pumpkin seeds. #YumYum

Froggy Pesto Pasta
Sacrilege to describe this as a pesto, but this green, herby, warming recipe is fantastic with egg pasta or used as per a salsa verde to perk up any kind of griddled meat. (Serves 5)
Ingredients:
50g pine nuts
Large bunch of basil
150ml olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3 tbsp Auntie Frog’s Lime & Chilli Dressing
1/2 the juice of a lime
3 large chicken breasts
Cherry tomatoes
Mozzarella
10oz Fusilli Pasta

First measure out the pine nuts, and fry off on a medium heat until they turn golden brown. Once cooked put the pine nuts into a food processor with the basil, olive oil, garlic cloves, lime juice and Auntie Frog’s Lime and Chill Dressing and blend to create a well-combined herby mess!
Boil some water to start cooking the pasta, while it is cooking chop the chicken breasts up into small pieces and cook in a large frying pan. When the pasta and chicken is cooking, chop the tomatoes in half and the mozzarella into small pieces. Once the pasta is cooked drain and stir in the pesto. Then add the pesto pasta to the chicken (while it’s still cooking) and stir through the mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. Cook for a remaining five minutes and then serve. #YumYum